Archibald Forbes (17 April 183830 March 1900) was a Scottish
war correspondent.
Early life and family
He was the son of Very Rev
Lewis William Forbes DD (1794–1854), minister of
Boharm
Boharm is a rural parish in the Speyside area of north Scotland, midway between Aberlour and Fochabers, and north of Dufftown. It lies on minor roads to either side of the A95. The main settlements in the parish are Maggieknockater and Mulben. ...
, Banffshire, and
Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1852, and his second wife, Elizabeth Leslie, daughter of
Archibald Young Leslie of Kininvie. He was born in
Morayshire
Moray; ( gd, Moireibh ) or Morayshire, called Elginshire until 1919, is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland, bordering Nairnshire to the west, Inverness-shire to the south, and Banffshire to the east. It ...
in 1838.
After studying at the
University of Aberdeen
, mottoeng = The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom
, established =
, type = Public research universityAncient university
, endowment = £58.4 million (2021)
, budget ...
from 1854 to 1857, he went to Edinburgh, and after hearing a course of lectures by (Sir)
William Howard Russell
Sir William Howard Russell, (28 March 182011 February 1907) was an Irish reporter with ''The Times'', and is considered to have been one of the first modern war correspondents. He spent 22 months covering the Crimean War, including the Sieg ...
, the famous correspondent, he enlisted in the
Royal Dragoons
The Royal Dragoons (1st Dragoons) was a heavy cavalry regiment of the British Army. The regiment was formed in 1661 as the Tangier Horse. It served for three centuries and was in action during the First and the Second World Wars. It was amalgam ...
. While still a trooper he began writing for the ''Morning Star'', and succeeded in getting several papers on military subjects accepted by the ''Cornhill Magazine''.
Early career
On being invalided from the army in 1867,
he started and ran with very little external aid a weekly journal called the ''London Scotsman'' (1867–1871).
His chance as a war correspondent came when he was employed by the
Daily News to cover the Franco Prussian war. Joining the Prussian army near Cologne, he accompanied them on their march into France, witnessing battles at Spicheren, Gravelotte and Sedan before joining the forces besieging Metz.
In all the previous reports from battlefields comparatively sparing use had been made of the telegraph.
Forbes laments his own supineness in the matter of wiring full details from the scene of operations. But the intensity of competition rapidly developed the long war telegram during the autumn of 1870, and no one contributed more effectively to this result than Forbes. He witnessed many of the events of the autumn campaign and entered Paris with the Prussians (with whom he established excellent relations) on 1 March 1871. On this occasion he was nearly drowned in a Parisian fountain as a German spy by an enthusiastic French mob. He managed to arrive first in England with his account of the Prussian entry. Two months later he returned to Paris and witnessed the horrors of the
commune
A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to:
Administrative-territorial entities
* Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township
** Communes of ...
with the ''sang froid'' for which he became celebrated.
Later work
In 1873, he represented the ''Daily News'' at the Vienna exhibition; subsequently he saw fighting in Spain, both with the
Carlists and their opponents ; and in 1875 he accompanied the
Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers ...
on his visit to India. In 1876, he was with
Michael Gregorovitch Tchernaieff and the Russian volunteers in the
Serbian campaign of 1876. In 1877, he witnessed the Russian invasion of Turkey, and on 23 August was presented to
Alexander II at Gornic Studen as the bearer of important news from the
Schipka Pass. On this occasion, the emperor conferred upon him the
order of St. Stanislaus
The Order of Saint Stanislaus ( pl, Order Św. Stanisława Biskupa Męczennika, russian: Орден Святого Станислава), also spelled Stanislas, was a Polish order of knighthood founded in 1765 by King Stanisław August Ponia ...
for his services to the Russian soldiers before
Plevna. During 1878, after a brief visit to
Cyprus
Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...
to witness the British occupation,
he lectured in England upon the
Russo-Turkish war
The Russo-Turkish wars (or Ottoman–Russian wars) were a series of twelve wars fought between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire between the 16th and 20th centuries. It was one of the longest series of military conflicts in European histo ...
. In 1878–79 he went out to Afghanistan, and accompanied the
Khyber Pass force to
Jalalabad
Jalalabad (; Dari/ ps, جلالآباد, ) is the fifth-largest city of Afghanistan. It has a population of about 356,274, and serves as the capital of Nangarhar Province in the eastern part of the country, about from the capital Kabul. Jala ...
. He was present at the
capture of Ali Musjid, and marched with several expeditions against the hill tribes.
From Afghanistan, he went to
Mandalay and had interviews with
Thibaw Min
Thibaw Min, also Thebaw or Theebaw ( my, သီပေါမင်း, ; 1 January 1859 – 19 December 1916) was the last king of the Konbaung dynasty of Burma (Myanmar) and also the last Burmese monarch in the country's history. His re ...
. In 1880, he was with
Lord Chelmsford as a British force was preparing for the
Zulu War
The Anglo-Zulu War was fought in 1879 between the British Empire and the Zulu Kingdom. Following the passing of the British North America Act of 1867 forming a federation in Canada, Lord Carnarvon thought that a similar political effort, coup ...
. On 5 July, after the victory of
Ulundi
Ulundi, also known as Mahlabathini, is a town in the Zululand District Municipality. At one time the capital of Zulu Kingdom in South Africa and later the capital of the Bantustan of KwaZulu, Ulundi now lies in KwaZulu-Natal Province (of which, ...
, he rode 110 miles to Landman's Drift in twenty hours. Two days after his arrival there he appeared in a state of utter exhaustion before Pietermaritzburg, having ridden by way of Ladysmith and Estcourt, an additional 170 miles, in thirty-five hours.
The news of Ulundi first reached England through his agency, he having completely outpaced the official despatch rider. He put in a claim for the Avar medal on the strength of this piece of service, but the request was refused with scant courtesy by the war office.
Some of his criticisms of Lord Chelmsford were held in certain quarters to have been unnecessarily offensive. Forbes had seen war practically illustrated in all quarters of the globe, and he had outgrown any semblance of diffidence in passing judgment upon difficult military operations.
![Archibald Forbes by Ape in Vanity Fair 1878](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cf/Archibald_Forbes_by_Ape_in_Vanity_Fair_1878.jpg)
Forbes had already published several volumes of ''Daily News'' war correspondence. That relating to 1870–1 was widely circulated. During his later years he collected a quantity of his various material and published it in book form. In 1884, upon the occasion of Gordon's mission to the Sudan, he brought out a tolerable sketch of his career, ''Chinese Gordon'' (13th edit. 1886). This was followed by a volume of military sketches and tales, ''Barracks, Bivouacs, and Battles'' (1891), and a brief tableau of ''The Afghan Wars'' of 1839 and 1879 (1892, 8vo). Then came a version of Moltke's ''Franco-German War'' ('revised by A. Forbes,' 1893), and ''The Great War of 189-,'' a cleverly written forecast, in which Forbes collaborated with a number of other experts and special correspondents, such as Admiral
Philip Howard Colomb
Vice-Admiral Philip Howard Colomb, RN (29 May 1831 – 13 October 1899). Born in Knockbrex, near Gatehouse of Fleet, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, he was a Royal Navy officer, historian, critic and inventor. He was the son of General ...
, Colonel (Sir)
Frederick Maurice, and others. In 1895, appeared the best volume of Forbes's autobiographical sketches, ''Memories and Studies of War and Peace.''
In this he claimed, among ''The Soldiers I have known'',
Helmuth von Moltke the Younger
Graf Helmuth Johannes Ludwig von Moltke (; 25 May 1848 – 18 June 1916), also known as Moltke the Younger, was a German general and Chief of the Great German General Staff. He was also the nephew of '' Generalfeldmarschall'' ''Graf'' Helmuth ...
,
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union Ar ...
,
Sherman
Sherman most commonly refers to:
*Sherman (name), a surname and given name (and list of persons with the name)
** William Tecumseh Sherman (1820–1891), American Civil War General
*M4 Sherman, a tank
Sherman may also refer to:
Places United St ...
,
Robert Napier,
Mikhail Skobelev
Mikhail Dmitriyevich Skobelev (russian: Михаил Дмитриевич Скобелев; 29 September 1843 – 7 July 1882), a Russian general, became famous for his conquest of Central Asia and for his heroism during the Russo-Turkish War ...
,
Osman Pasha Osman Pasha (also spelled ''Uthman Pasha'' or ''Othman Pasha'') may refer to:
* Özdemiroğlu Osman Pasha (1527–1585), Ottoman grand vizier
* Bosniak Osman Pasha (died 1685), Ottoman governor of Egypt, Damascus, and Bosnia
* Topal Osman Pasha (16 ...
, Sir
Redvers Buller
General Sir Redvers Henry Buller, (7 December 1839 – 2 June 1908) was a British Army officer and a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forc ...
, and Lords
Wolseley and Roberts. His readiness to prophesy no less than to judge suggests a rashness in forming opinions, inseparable perhaps from the profession that he followed; but he has some good stories, such as the one of General Skobeleff arresting his father (a miserly parent) for reporting himself in undress uniform. In 1896, Forbes collaborated in two handsome but ill-arranged quarto volumes of ''Battles of the Nineteenth Century,'' and in the same year published his historical record of ''The Black Watch.''
In 1898, he committed to the press a superficial ''Life of Napoleon III'' (with portraits), based to a large extent upon the ''Life'' by
Blanchard Jerrold. Previous biographies by Forbes of similar calibre were those of the ''Emperor William II'' (1889), ''Havelock'' (1890), and ''Colin Campbell, Lord Clyde'' (1895, ''Men of Action'' series).
After a life of perilous adventure, Forbes died peacefully at
Clarence Terrace, Regent's Park, on 30 March 1900, and he was buried in the Allenvale cemetery, near Aberdeen.
He left a widow, Louisa, daughter of
Montgomery C. Meigs.
A photographic portrait of Forbes is prefixed to his ''Memories and Studies of War and Peace'' (1895). A tablet with a medallion portrait was unveiled in the crypt of St. Paul's Cathedral in May 1902 by Field Marshal
Viscount Wolseley.
A portrait of Forbes by Sir
Hubert von Herkomer
Sir Hubert von Herkomer (born as Hubert Herkomer; 26 May 1849 – 31 March 1914) was a Bavarian-born British painter, pioneering film-director, and composer. Though a very successful portrait artist, especially of men, he is mainly remembered fo ...
is in the collection of the
Hamburger Kunsthalle
The Hamburger Kunsthalle is the art museum of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, Germany. It is one of the largest art museums in the country. The museum consists of three connected buildings, dating from 1869 (main building), 1921 (Kuppelsaa ...
, Hamburg.
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Forbes, Archibald
British male journalists
1838 births
1900 deaths
Alumni of the University of Aberdeen
British war correspondents
19th-century British journalists
Male journalists
19th-century British male writers